my neighbor gave me a oak barrel

[Pikluk]

i think its a 30 gallons barrel
both holes are plugged up.
i have no idea when it was last used.
neighbor told me it was a whiskey barrel. (which would be great for ujsm, i think).

can it be used ?.
how to tell?
can i fill it little at a time? (making 30 gallons would take me a few months, at least).

its from the schenley company.
the outside doesnt look that fresh but i know it spend at least 2 weeks outside (with both hole sealed).

anything on how to use a barrel is welcome.

[Boda Getta]

30 gallons is pretty big for us hobbyist, but that said, I think I would first fill it full of water and see it stops leaking in a few days. If it does, it may have promise. I would then want to know what the inside of the barrel looks (& smells) like. You should be able to carefully tap the top few bands loose and remove the head of the barrel for inspection. If everything looks and smells ok, I think I would try to locate a steam cleaner and give it a good cleaning. If the barrel was charred (or even if not) I may think about re-charring it. Put it back together and repeat the filling with water, re-swelling to stop leaks. Then figure out how to come up with +25 gals of your best for +3 years aging.

Good luck
BG

[mtnshiner85]

I would use it for a mash barrel, i use a 53 gallon one and love it. Holds heat great. I would get a 5 gallon barrel for ageing.

[goose eye]

Get you a box of round tooth picks just in
case.


So im tole

[Pikluk]

thanks for the follow up guys.
boda when you say re-charring it you mean taking a few ring off to remove the top and bottom a make a fire in there?

round tooth pick? to plug holes?

filling it little by little not a good idea?

so fill it up with water and change it weakly?
till i can fill it?

gonna fill it right now with water.
gonna give it a smell before.

[thatguy1]

"There are natural antibacterial and antimicrobial properties in wood which eliminate about 99 percent of all potential contaminants."

source: http://pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com/1 ... c-and-why/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow , or just google it you'll find lots of information.

"As for what mechanism or agent might be responsible for wood's alleged antibacterial powers, the researchers admitted that they had no clue. One begins to see why this particular piece of "science" didn't exactly blow the doors off the conventional thinking on food safety.

Finally, though, the kicker: One of the microbiologists responsible for the study shares his recommended technique for cleaning wooden cutting boards: "A good wipe will do fine – and if you forget to wipe the board, you probably won't be too bad off." The entire 1993 article is available here. (My thanks to the reader who sent it to me.)"

source: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/cuttin ... odplas.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

So as far as bacteria, you wont' really have to worry unless the wood is rotted out or something.

One thing is for certain, I wouldn't use any chemicals on the wood as the wood would absorb those chemicals. You just need to give it a good wash and wipe it down.

[Boda Getta]

"boda when you say re-charring it you mean taking a few ring off to remove the top and bottom a make a fire in there?"

I wouldn't take but one end cap off; it you take both off you likely would never get the barrel back together. If you felt it needed re-charring, use some type of scraping tool and scrap some of the old char off and re-char using a hand held propane torch. very similar to making charred sticks from white oak.

BG

[Jimbo]

30 gallons is pretty big to use as is. Its hard work even filling a 5 gallon one. If it were mine, Id knock it down and cut it into sticks 1x1x5". Sand the grime off the outside on a belt sander and char the 5 uncharred surfaces. This is what I do with Jack Daniels half barrel whiskey barrel planters. Works great, 1 stick per quart jar to age.

Or cut it in half longwise, and make a cool hinged stash keg/ table top/ drinking table

[Black Eye]

Could Make a pretty cool old Flake Stand (worm barrel) out of it too.

[Pikluk]

from what you guys say.
if i want to use it, i would have to fill it in one shot.
or close to.

i filled it with water how long before i need to change the water?

only the side cork let a little tinkle out i guess a few more day and it will fix it self.




whats the down side of filling it little by little?

trying to think why its bad to have a half filled cask, only thing that come to mind is the wood drying at the top. (in the case i want to fill it little by little.

can you just turn it upside down every weak?
wont the fume alone from the few gallons at the bottom be enough?

[goose eye]

Round here you got post hole bettles. If that
barel hadn't been used in a while they come
a callin. Round tooth pick fits just right.

As far as filling that barel. You can fill it as
you go. Angeles do like there likker thou


So im tole

[Pikluk]

from goose wisdom i can fill it little by little.
think i can fill it under six months..
think i keep it under water for 3 "can i keep it filled with water for 3 months?"
think ill can make like half of if in 3 months, maybe more.
how often should i change the water?

[Pikluk]

wanted to take a few more pic and saw a wasp nest ripped it off and run like hell.

tomorrow more pics.


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185 ... G_1501.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/185 ... G_1511.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Jimbo]

That looks pretty damn old. I'd build something out of it. you'll get a lot more sweet caramel vanilla flavors out of fresher oak than that museum piece

[Pikluk]

after i opened the top to fill it there was a really nice whiskey draft coming out has i filled it.
and its barley dripping"from the side cap" "after 2 days i can say its still full"
if it was old id expect it would be dry and couldn't hold water?
or maybe it got just enough rain to keep it sealed? "to keep it moist from the outside"

[Pikluk]

thanks for your input jimbo but if i don't fill it ill trow it in the fire.
got no space it other then the shed.

[Jimbo]

If it seems there's some life left in it, then cutting it into sticks to soak in quart jars takes a lot less space to store than a whole barrel. 30 gallons is a heap o hooch to run too If you think you can fill it awesome, but I ran 100 lbs of malt and still didnt fill a 5 gallon barrel, and 1400 lbs of apples filled one with a couple gallons for future top-up.

I dont remember if I described below what I do with these staves, I buy Jack Daniels half barrel planters (fresh from JD and smelling good!) and cut them into 1x1x5" sticks. Sand the grime off the outside layer on a beltsander, and char the 5 uncharred sides. 1 per quart seems about perfect, working out to 88 sq inches per gallon surface area. A 53 gallon whiskey barrel gives 52 sq inches per gallon. http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... p?id=20772 - the barrel getting busted down.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... p?id=21098 - this pic shows the sticks, one per jar.

Edit: One more, this is a fun pic, it shows the color and flavor dropping out of a JD stick after only a couple hours. http://homedistiller.org/forum/download ... p?id=21057

Cheers.

[goose eye]

id go ahead a drain it once you got it swole up. you can take wet burlap an cover on outside. when you start fillin it you need to keep the proof up cause it gona drop hard til you get it filled on up. think id be putin 130s til you got it over 1/2 full then you can dial it back to 120s. would keep a sharp eye on the barel . you can put a couple wood wedges at the outside bottom of barel an itll make it so it aint gona roll.id cover it up while it in your shed cause folks is nosey


so im tole

[bcboyz86]

I had thought about old wine barrells too. The wife watches some kids who's parents are both head wine makers at two big different wineries... So I think I could sweet talk them into letting a few barells go for pretty cheap... But I wouldn't want the wine contamination. Just scrape and boil the staves? Or would the wood sugars come out with the boil too?

[Jimbo]

The wine residue could add a nice character. Some of the very best Scotch single malts use Sherry barrels for this very purpose.

[bcboyz86]

I suppose I could try one or two jars to try it out first...